Gog & Magog vs. God

The USA & the Rest of the West vs. the NJK (Ezek 38&39)

            Upon now years of studying, pondering and also experience (cf. 1SM 25.4), and with this prophecy of Ezek 38=39 having been shown by God to indeed have an eschatological application, e.g. (Explicitly) Rev 20:8-9 (Ezek 38:2, 39:6) & (implicitly/allusively) Rev 19:17-18, 21 (Ezek 39:17-20); Rev 11:13 (Ezek 38:19-20), so it can here/now be forthwithly stated as the controlling thesis, indeed upon Spiritual observation & prophetic information, that this, actually popular Gog and Magog prophecy of Ezek 38-39 represents the outline, template and modus operandi, of how God has always planned to orchestrate and achieve a triumphant victory over, and that collectively so, all of those who would presently or potentially think to stand against the Zionistic plans that He has for His (redeemed and restored) Israel (cf. Isa 54), -which now, in the New Testament, is to be found, as a faithful (Apostolic) remnant (Rev 12:17), within the, today: mainly Babylonianly-Apostate, Christian Church. (Rev 18:2-4)

            With the prevalent teaching of the glorious Second Coming, another precursor teaching has been overlooked, which is that God persistingly has always (e.g. Num 14:21; Hab 2:14; Isa 60 & Rev 18:1) intended to first actually have an emblematic Triumphant Church and People in this world who thus give the world the greatest and best testifying demonstration of what His True Rule and Kingdom is all about..and then would the Second Coming ending come. (Matt 24:14). And as by now studied out in this blog, e.g in this “Plan A Millennium” post, that “mystery” (=Rev 10:6) about a NT Zionistic Kingdom and an Earthly Jubilee Era, (=Rev 11:15-19) are indeed now in effectuating effect as per God’s “Plan A” prophetic scenario...all because the “Plan B” scenario/measure which God had permitted for, have by now been irreparably (=Rev 7:1-3) squandered by those who were entrusted to spear-headingly carry it out, namely the SDA Church. (LDE 59-61)

            It is most significant that the confrontation with Gog and Magog (Ezek 38-39) sequiturly occurs right on the heels of God having spoken of a restoration of His Israel (Ezek 37), as expounded upon in this post. They, a united Judah (Southern Kingdom) and Israel (Northern Kingdom),-upon the ending of their eschatological (=“(OT) Apocalypse”) Kings of the North vs. South Civil Warring (Dan 11), have been here envisioned to reunitedly return to their promised land (Ezek 37:15-28). But that plan itself stirs up the hatred of the enemies of this Triumphant Israel, and so, to both nip this in the bud, as well as achieve a, world-renown (Ezek 38:16, 23), striking victory, God is actually going to entice these enemies of His People to join together and try to end and overthrow this restoration endeavor by His people.

            Ezek 38-39, in its initial  literalistic wave of fulfilment, honed this plan and template of God on existing, and geographically locatable, enemies of God’s Zion. But as OT Israel had never placed itself in a position to have this prophecy fulfilled, with their best chance being in what Jesus Christ was poised to accomplish with early First Century Jews (cf. Mark 1:14-15; Matt 10:23; Luke 19:38-40, 41-44), but of course was frustrated in this, then this prophetic plan has, like other similar Zionistic OT prophecies, been postponed, and now, for God to apply them in th NT Era, have, as seen throughout the book of Revelation, to be Spiritualistically applied. Thus no longer, (contrary to the popular (Futuristic-Dispensationalist) Christian prophetic hermeneutics and interpretational (Jesuit) canard [1]), looking for literalistic/geographical fulfillments, but actually for entities today which Spiritually fulfill the various elements and motivations which those prior literal enemy entities had towards God’s Zionistic plans and People.

            Therefore, as a further consequence/fallout of this Prophetic postponement and Spiritual reappplication, and with the book of Revelation having copiously demonstrated how God has transformed literalistic things into packed prophetic symbolism (=Rev 1:1), then, in validly interpreting and applying the prophecy of Ezek 38-39 to a present, eschatological context, this same symbolism principles needs to be fully followed here (because God is indeed presciently wise enough to have also incorporated elements in Ezek 38-39 which could, in case of a postponement (cf. Jer 18:7-10), easily have Spiritual and Symbolic value). As these symbols have actually been detailedly expounded on in that dedicated post, their meanings will not be re-explained as these symbols are discussed, as they appear, below. Only if a further understanding and applicational specivity can be arrived at, will further detailing be made here, below.

            Introduction Summary - So recapping what has been first stated here as a guide for the following verse-by-verse expounding of the, today applicable, even fulfilling, prophetic message of Ezek 38-39:

-this prophetic scenario is God’s deliberately-orchestrated way to deal with all of the pronounced and potential enemies of His Zion in one, most striking, action

-their innately natural rallying, comes right on the heels of God’s plans for His Zion having had been clearly and fully revealed in Ezek 37

-the prophetic elements in Ezek 38-39 have been given in not merely literalistically applicable terms, but in terms which also could easily be translated into very significant symbolism

-this Gog & Magog vs. God (and His Zion) prophecy currently has a developing fulfillment. (See the included Present Application/Fulfillment sections)

Ezekiel 38

Ezekiel 38:1 And the word of the LORD came to me saying,

word of the Lord -Thus, as seen throughout the book of Ezekiel, a (direct) prophecy and directive from God which is to be followed and carried out (Ezek 3:17-21)

Present Application/Fulfillment

            With, as presented in this ‘Unrolling Scroll’ post, (cf. this post on the Seven Thunders) the entire book/“scroll” of Ezekiel being at the operative background of the prophetic message and prophesying given in Rev 10 (i.e. Ezek 3:1-3ff = Rev 10:8-10), then it is seen, as also per historical fulfillment of this passage, that this message is not only to be given within a religious, Christian Church context, but also in a political/civil, Nations, States, Head of State context. (Rev 10:11). And that is all because these enemies of God’s Zion are not (surprisingly) only found in the Christian Church (Rev 17:6; 11, 18), but they are also found in governmental entities which greatly fear this consequential rise of God’s Zion (cf. Rev 17:12-14), acting as this joint oppositional force (Rev 17:17).

Ezekiel 38:2 "Son of man, set your face toward Gog of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him

            The MacArthur Study Bible (MSB) here provided a key explanation which, for summary reasons, will simply be (partly, i.e. minus the ‘Babylonianly-confused’ Futuristic-Dispensational take) quoted here:                                            

“prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal." Should be translated “chief prince of Meshech and Tubal” because: 1) Rosh (more than 600 times) in the Heb. OT is an adjective, “chief,” often in references to the “chief priest” (2Ki 25:18); 2) most ancient versions took it to mean “chief “or “head”; and 3) in all places other than chaps. 38 and 39 where both Meshech and Tubal are mentioned, Rosh is not listed as a third people (Ezek 27:13; 32:26; Ge 10:2; 1Ch 1:5). This is also descriptive of the Antichrist, who rises to world dominance in the coming time of tribulation (cf. Da 9:24–27; 11:36–45; Rev 13:1–17; 19:20).”

[Though Gog and Magog will actually unite with the (distinct/actual) AntiChrist in this coalition against God’s Zion]

That Hebrew word translated as “Rosh” here is (from) Strongs #07218 which has 543

occurrences and includes (NASB) translations such as: “head(s)” [385x]; “top(s)/topmost” [69x]; “chief(s)+men” [44x] & “first” [12x]. So the understanding of its use here as “chief/head/top/lead prince” is valid.

Gog of the land of Magog - From the Biblical clue in Rev 20:8 where “Gog” is equated as being on the same level as “Magog”, and here in Ezek 38:2, “Magog” is identified as being a geographical region, a “land”, then it can be deduced that Gog is itself a geographical region, and manifestly from the larger territory of Magog. Therefore Gog was a distinct “state” within the region of Magog.

            So putting things together thus far here: Gog was a distinct state from the land of Magog, and was acting as the chief/leader of two other distinct regions, namely Meshech and Tubal. So the state Gog arose from the “country (=land)” of Magog, and led the countries of Meshech and Tubal for this coalition against God’s Israel as it was endeavoring to accomplish its Zionistic destiny.

Magog, Meshech and Tubal - Again, going by the hermeneutic principle that the Bible Spiritually interprets its symbolic/cryptic prophetic self, it has not been stressed enough, or pursued more deeply that these three known geographical entities of Magog, Meshech and Tubal, are all the first generation sons of Japheth, the son of Noah. (Gen 10:2). What is of Spiritual significance here is that Japheth was, along with Shem, the non-cursed sons of Noah (Gen 9:23). Whereas Ham, through his (wayward) son Canaan, was. Canaan’s descendants did indeed go on to become a wicked people (See Gen 10:15-18, 19) which also occupied the land which God, therefore, went on to dispossess them (Jos 17:13), and similar others, of (=Deut 7:1), and make them slaves (cf. Deut 20:10-11ff = Gen 9:26) to the Israelites, who were from the (Semitic) line of Shem.

            But the ancestral fact is that in Gen 9:27 Noah had gone on to also, almost similarly, bless the posterity of the righteous/righteously acting Japheth, although this was to be subservient to his brother Shem, in that ‘Japheth’s descendants would be dwelling in Shem’s tents. Manifestly Japheth’s descendants never accepted that arrangement and went on to establish their own land to the north (cf. Ezek 38:15; 39:2) of the territory promised to Shem’s posterity, but now, here, upon Israel returning from its ended Babylonian Captivity Judgement, and now clearly endeavoring to fulfill God’s Zion plans, which would indeed fully occupy all the territory promised to Israel (Jos 1:4), and would probably encroach on territory which these northern nations had opportunistically occupied given the failure of Israel to remain faithful and thus conquer all of this promised land (e.g. Jos 23:12-13 = Jdg 1:19, 21, 28-33; Jdg 2:11-19, 20-23, 3:1ff).

            And so, manifestly, but mis-using, the blessing of Noah in Gen 9:27 to Japheth, Gog raised itself up in Magog, and rallied other descendants of Japheth in the entire land of Meshech and Tubal, to form this coalition which would endeavor to prevent Israel from ever taking a foothold in their former territory. Thus they would throw off that subservient clause in that blessing. And they probably justifyingly cited the prior Assyrian assimilation and this latest Babylonian Captivity as evidence that God was no longer working to aid Israel, thus their promise and covenant with Him had been annulled (cf. Jdg 1:20). So they, through this rallying coalition, were now going to overtake God’s Israel/Zion, all under the manifestly naturally-warranting leadership of this breaking off state of Gog, particularly if/as this whole idea was probably Gog’s own.

            But Gog and his followers, who manifestly were well acquainted with Scripture, hence their rallying here based on, albeit their perverting understanding of Gen 9:27, and therefore just did not care that God, as stated in Ezek 36:22-38 & 37:15-28, had already, most mercifully, fully forgiven Israel, and was working with them, and merely so that He could accomplish His potential world-saving Messianic plans through them....And this is what Ezekiel was commissioned to not only make clear to Gog & co., but also, given the manifest knowing, thus high-handed opposing here through this militaristic, warring coalition, they were also fully deserving of a fitting and striking, indeed world emblematic & object-lesson, judgement from God.

Present Application/Fulfillment

            Today, in an eschatological context/application, the Gog Coalition is not found in literal/geographical locations, but from Spiritually implications. And here, it is the one from Gen 9:26-27; 10:2 which indeed shows that this is an attempt by the posterity of the (once) righteous brother Japheth, to try to prevent Shem’s posterity to be reestablished, especially Zionistically. And so they are made by God to act on this festering idea of theirs in this self-justified confrontation against God’s Zion, and all because they refused to go by God’s world ordering dictate that Japheth would live in the tents of Shem...and Ham, through the most wicked Canaan would serve them. (Gen 9:25-27). Mind you that this was God’s everlasting world ordering dictate when the earth was to be repopulated and reorganized following the Flood destruction. But now Japheth’s descendants were not only refusing to go by it, but they also wanted to, and now decidedly were endeavoring to completely overtake Shem’s heritage, pointedly through the most righteous Israel line, especially before it established itself in its well-known Zion form.

            So the Gog Coalition is acting to oppose God’s organizational order for this fallen world. And, Spiritually speaking, since: (1) Shem could be considered as the most righteous people on Earth, of which are Semitic people including Israelites from Abraham who God had called out of the lands of Ham (Chaldea); and (2) with Ham being the ancestor of Nimrod who inceptively formed the city/people of Babylon, which God had used to punish His wayward Israel,[2] and (3) with “Babylon” originally only intended to be the habitation of the world’s pagan’s (e.g. it later association with Rome (1 Pet 5:13), it can be applicatively/interpretively extrapolated that:

(1) the line of Shem today is generally seen in True Christian people;

(2) the line of Ham generally being the world’s secular people; and

(3) the line of (the also righteous) Japheth generally being other religious/religious-ish people who, as Paul states, though not actually knowing about God’s Law and Gospel Truth, still innately do the works of the Law and Gospel (Rom 2:12-16; = Matt 25:37-40)...

            Yet Japheth was still supposed to live in the “tents” of God’s Zion Shem (=Dan 11:45), but Japheth was not willing to go by that plan, and so here, waving their flags of claimed (independent and trumping) righteousness, they proceed to try to over throw the small, weak and defenseless restored Shem, and thus usurpingly occupy and possess their God-promised land, heritage and prosperity, all by clinging to the prior sin by Shem. -All like the Jacob vs. Esau inheritance duel.

            So, Eschatologically, the Gog Coalition will be seen in a self-righteously and religiously cloaked people, both in terms of the Law and Righteousness of God who will usurpingly assert themselves and their way of life and of doing things to be “True Christianity”, and thus refusing to be under the rule of the line of Shem, which itself is True Christianity. And so, when that True Remnant Movement of God is (seemingly) still small, enfeebled and defenseless, the Japheth - Gog Coalition will be thinking to prevent it from ever arising to its fullest form, and God will be pertinently acting to thus come together to try to accomplish that cherished goal. (=2 Thess 2:9-12). This Gog Coalition is the Mark of the Beast Camp warned of in prophecy and by their changing of God’s Ten Commandments, having established a spurious Sabbath vs. God’s Seventh Day Sabbath, and Spiritually relatedly, having established a spurious Right-doing (=Righteousness) way in Capitalism which explicitly and/or Spiritually circumvents both God’s Sabbatical principles, and thus also the letter and Spirit of God’s entire Law, they will have thus established their counterfeit movement which here seek to overrun God’s True Remnant Cause.

            The epitome of the wickedness of that Japheth movement is when they allow the purely secular Ham (thus) Babylon to become an integral part of them, thus completely defeating any righteous good that they may be doing. This is today emblematically seen in “right-doing” people, including outrightly or effectively nominal Christians, who may be involved in doing good humanitarian deeds, but at the same time fully advocate and espouse evil things such as various degrees of unbelief or outright atheism and sexual promiscuity, perversion and abominations and other forms of lawlessness (=Matt 7:21-23). But as fully expounded of in this Babylon post, it is that Apostate Coalition which forms the main eschatological opposition to God True Israel Movement. (=Rev 16:12-16)

Ezekiel 38:3 and say, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I am against you, O Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal.

“Behold” - This explicit Hebrew expression (Strongs #02009) is often glibly read and overlooked, but it certainly does mean “behold” as in: “do look at the available evidence/fact”, or in (future) prophetic cases: “do look at what I (God) am going to surely do”. And here, God was about to concretely demonstrate to the Gog coalition that ‘it was against them’.

“I am against you” - So contrary to Gog manifest chief premise and basis for its opposing coalition against God’s Zion, God was actually against them, and for Israel...ANd that was indeed God Himself who was against them, and not merely (defenseless/vulnerable) Israel, meaning that it would be God if/whenever necessary, -as it indeed was now given the much greater military superiority of this Gog coalition, who would be (thus supernaturally) doing the fighting for His Zion. (Cf. Zech 2:8)

(Magog) Meshech and Tubal - Note, in a comparison to Gen 10:2, this here is not all of the posterity of Japheth, but only 2.? of his 7 sons; -with Gog being only a part posterity of the son Magog. But the other sons are later, manifestly preemptively “impleaded”.

Present Application/Fulfillment

            From just a proper studying out of the Bible, its teaching and especially its prophecies, the Gog Coalition can have ample evidence that God is not at all in support of their oppositional movement...But they clearly refuse to do such studying..being drunkenly blind (Isa 29:9-15). But God is about to clearly overthrow this defiant Coalition of rebels (Isa 30:1-5) and that through, necessarily, and arresting supernatural act, a most WOE-ful one indeed (Isa 30:8-15ff).

Ezekiel 38:4 "I will make you to be turned and (naturally) give/put hooks into your jaws, and I will cause you to come out, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them splendidly attired, a great company with buckler and shield, all of them wielding swords;

will make you to be turned - Interesting development here. Manifestly the Gog Coalition had originally been pondering such an assault in their minds. But God who can read their minds, decided that it was best to fully tease this idea to concrete actions, all to enduringly purge such wishfulness amongst all/any of the belligerent enemies that His Rising and Triumphing Zion would otherwise surely produce. So God set out to make an example out of God, and literally pounced on their mere desire here and: ‘made them to be turned’, in the exegetical sense of ‘making them to change their mind, and indeed decide to attack Israel. Thus this was not something that the Gog Coalition was actually really keen on doing, -though they were surely seriously itching to do it, but/so God, incontrovertibly, ‘forced their arm’.

hooks in jaws - The “hooks” mentioned here are, as used in Ezek 29:4, fishing implements (cf. Amos 4:2), as also seen in the food-securing implements made from resources priorly used for warfaring in Isa 2:4|Mic 4:3; -as in ‘fishing spears’ (Joel 3:10). Hooks (probably in the practical form of “fetters”), were also used to secure a captive (2 Chr 33:11; Ezek 19:4, 9).

            But the deal with ‘fishing hooks’ is that fishes are “intelligent” enough to not “naturally” get themselves caught by them...unless there is a bait that deludes them into assuming that this is a good thing to do. Moreover that “bait” actually has to be something that is already/innately most appealing to the baitee. The other way to get fish caught in/by hooks is to forcefully thrust it on them, as done with the also applicable ‘fishing spears’.

            In OT days, the renown history and presence of the nation and Kingdom of Israel itself was “bad/alarming” news to its surrounding pagan nations. They knew what Israel had done to prior heathen nations, and, especially for the proximate nations which were within the area “Promised” to Israel, their resurgence here was inherently dangerous to them. So that was indeed reason enough to attack them and thwart their reestablishment plans. But given all that was known about the feats of Israel, even when seemingly small and defenseless, that probably would not be “bait” enough. So God had to indeed put a “bait” on those hooks with which He purposefully/strategically wanted to draw the Gog Coalition, as well as other nations, against His nascent Zion.

            This recalls how God had similarly gone about to bring to an end the greatest threat that His nascent Israel Kingdom would have faced as they were journeying to their Promised Land, in the reneging, pursuing armies of the World Power Egypt. So God then acted to draw Pharaoh and His army against a defenseless Israel at the Red Sea, and then proceeded to drown them all in the Red Sea. (Exod 14:3-4, 8-9, 17-18 cf. Psa 78:53b). And this was a capping, also widely-renown action which probably kept at bay many other nations which may have wanted to “pre-emptively” attack Israel (Jos 2:10-11), -except for a couple of foolish, most defiant ones (Exod 17:8ff, 14-16).

            This time around, in the Gog Coalition ordeal, God is not going to leave any potential loose ends untaken care of, and so will not only be “baiting” the foremost/prominent enemies of His Zion, but also any other dormant ones.

            Without much internal info available about those nations in that coalition, it can be straightly deduced that their mere dedicated heathenistic stance was the “baiting” reason enough for them to feel greatly self-threatened by this growing, prospering and strengthening Zion, and thus see it as a rising power that should be dealt with, and that, better now, when it was not yet established, then later. (See LLM 404.3-4; 3SM 427.4-5ff (~Rev 20:8-9|GC 662.3-664.3ff) -the Millennial Era Gog and Magog that appears in Rev 20:8-9 indeed persistingly resumes the oppositional work which they had started before the Millennial Era (=GC 664.1b) had been ushered in, as seen in the “Time of Trouble” which transpired then.)

(naturally) give/put hooks - Being in the non-causitive, nor forced, thus “natural”, Hebrew Verbal tense here, =a Qal, the Hebrew word nathan (Strongs #05414) translated here as “put”, but which also is often rendered as “give”, would see to me more accurately, but woodenly, understood here as “give”, in the sense that ‘God would be naturally supplying those “hooks” which would reel the Gog Coalition into acting out on their wishful ideas against Zion. And really, given the nature of this idea of theirs, and the fact that they were well-established militaristically, the “naturally” best/simplest way that God could accomplish this forcing was to allow Israel to seem as defenseless as possible. And that is indeed what motivated the Gog Coalition. (Ezek 38:11)

            This Spiritually, somewhat conversely, recalls how Judas formed a rabble coalition of thugs and bandits to come and arrest Jesus (Matt 26:47-48), all calculatedly derived from Judas’ exasperation of how meek Jesus had been all along, never demonstrating the great power that He had. So Judas decided to force His hand (See DA 720.5-721.1), and Jesus knowingly, and evidently also aware of the fact that ‘Satan had entered Judas’ “therefore” steeled this idea and mindset of Judas (John 13:27; 6:70-71), all because God larger and greater Redemptive Will would be accomplished through this (Matt 26:24). Evidently, like “baiting” law enforcement tactics, the best way that God obtains determinative evidence against the wicked, -with them acting out their cherished wicked intentions, is to make Himself, His Cause, appear to be defenseless and weak...Then do the hateful jackals come out, sealing their intents, as repletely seen against martyrs, by lawless, violent and/or murderous endeavors and actions (see GC 46-48), and thus God has the actionable and warranting right to duly and correspondingly, even preemptively, quashingly deal with such, present or potential, opposition.

            The exact same Scenario transpires with God’s Apostasy-judging and replacing (Rev 11:1-2), but still pleading (Rev 11:3), -hence the assumed “weakness” by the smug apostates, Religious and National Two Witnesses movement, (=Rev 11:4), thus God’s need to fittingly, most severely deal with the offending opposition (Rev 11:5).

cause you to come out - Again, what God will be “baitingly” doing here is what will “cause” the Gog Coalition to actually “change their mind”and do come out against God’s helpless Zion.

with horses....shield - Odd...you manifestly are knowingly going to attack an upstart, and thus defenseless nation, but yet you come out in full military arsenal, and also, as if for moral encouragement, military pageantry; indeed with ‘all guns (=swords) cocked, readied to blaze’. It possibly could be that the Gog Coalition had mistakenly greatly overestimated their mark...or...they knew exactly that they, possibly, could be fighting a people who God was still defending, or would interveningly defend. So they decided not to take any chances. Thus they either were demosntrated their utter ruthlessness and/or their utter disregard for the will of God. And for both cases, they were objectively and concretely demonstrating their condemnable guilt.

            Again, same thing as in the case of the “son of perdition” Judas. He likewise knew that Jesus, who moreover was completely sinless/crimeless, -and indeed had clearly not committed any crime which would warrant a public arrest, was meek enough to allow Himself to be taken without any force, and He also knew that Jesus, indeed as easily demonstrated (John 18:6|DA 694.5-6), was, through sure Divine/Angelic assistance, capable of easily defeating any forceful assault on Him, but still/and so, Judas decided to come with all of the weaponry that he and his non-Roman rabble were allowed to have. All because the goal of Judas was to force Jesus to respond with overwhelming force and thus force Him off of His mission and into Judas’ Satan-inspired own.

            This is the very same motivation of the AntiChrist, Mark of the Beast camp/coalition in the end vs. God’s Chosen as they are devoid of the restraining Spirit of God, and thus no longer have any barrier to fully act of the evil wishes of their persecutively vindictive hearts, (2 Thess 2:6-7; 20MR 269.2), justifyingly claiming all the while, as with the Gog Coalition, that ‘God is with them (and/by their much greater number)’ (3SM 427.5-428.1ff); and God responds “in kind”, but all according to His own satisfactorily defeating plan. (2 Thess 2:8-12)

all of them with wielding sword - With the “sword” being a symbol of the ‘corrective word of God’, which God at times effectuates through the righteous ordering/correcting actions of civil powers, and with the similar symbology being used in updating visions about the Time of Trouble given through the SOP (LDE 121.3-4) then, as stated above, it can here be Spiritually extended seen that these nations, in a future fulfillment, will be claiming that they have some sort of Biblical/Trumping justification for their advance against God’s Zion. Indeed with Israel having been renown routed by the permitting hand of God (cf. Isa 54:7-8), by first Assyria (for the 10 Northern Tribes), and then Babylon (for the Southern Judah Kingdom), it is likely the case that those pagan nations were claiming this as justification to make this opposition to this upstart, nationalistic restoration. But unbeknownst to these pagans, God had forgiven His Israel (=Zech 3 = the “religious branch/witness” of God’s Two Witnesses (Zech 4:3, 11-14|Rev 11:4), for the sake of forming this Zion (Ezek 36:22ff; 37:28) and, despite all, actually calculatedly inviting vulnerable appearance, would be fighting for them, and even those ‘wielded (iron) swords of justification’ would be shown to be a inconsequential as ‘brands of straw’. (cf. Job 41:27)

Present Application/Fulfillment

make you to be turned - Again, as stated above, God can easily accomplish this by deliberately presenting an inviting appearance of weakness to the wicked which they will surely want to prey upon. And in today’s context this is many seen, on a nationalistic level, when countries do not have the capabilities to defend themselves, which typically is directly related to the level of their economic power. So “poor” typically mean “weak” and the Gog Coalition will surely be allured by that facade/state to go ahead and endeavor to do their lawless deed. But, as seen next, God also wants to make sure that this Gog Coalition will not be able to “turn away” from their endeavor, but be force to fully commit to it, all so that God can objectively justly, strikingly overthrow them, so He will also be “injecting” something in the trapping which is sure to secure the pursuing interest of that rebellious camp.     

“baiting hooks” - In the context of today’s world, just going by recent history, it is seen that international coalitions are, logically, formed when a common threat or self-interest is deemed to be at stake. So e.g. the US-led coalition in the 1991 Gulf War, was not really to free Kuwait from Saddam’s Iraq, as prominently purported by government leaders and the media, but because gas prices were being significantly affected by the unrest in that key crude oil region. Similarly, the 2003 Iraq War Coalition was also mainly joined by countries who opportunistically wanted to secure their oil resource supply, and so put up a pretext of another linking theme: Terrorism to rally nations together for this assault. Indeed in our world, when these claimed threat to: the economy, terrorism and/or (Western) Freedoms & “Way of Life” are put forth, it typically is quite easy for them to form a militaristic coalition to fight that common enemy, and with other nations which would not actually be directly impacted, being contrived to join out of various threats of Developmental and/or Military Aid censures.

            In the Spiritual/Theological context of God having an issue with nations, as actually seen with how God dealt more often and most severely with OT Israel, indeed most times for much less sinful reasons than other dedicatedly pagan nations, the ones which have the most to fear from such an indictment from God, are those nations which are, similarly, actually ‘(slanderously/blasphemously) taking His name in vain’ (Exod 20:5). And these are the nations with a Judeo-Christian foundation, namely Western/First World Countries/Societies (=Babylon Rev 18:5ff)). Thus the nations of the former Religious Holy Roman Empire, and now the Socio-Economic Empire led by the United States. Indeed for just these chief Spiritually trespassing reasons, they have much to fear from a coming judgement by God, but along with them, given mainly their strong economic ties (=Rev 17:2; 18:3, 9). So other nations which make no such overt (spurious) religious adherence claims such as Japan, China, Russia, and even now mainly secular nations in the European Union; and Canada, and purely from a Judeo- basis, but also a political and economic one: Israel, still have a vested interest to join in this coalition to attempt to fight whatever would target their de facto leader in this Babylon, the United States of America.

            So all of these nations, whether for direct, indirect or contrived Religious, Political, Social/Cultural and/or Economic reasons, do have a baitable reason to seek to oppose God’s burgeoning Zion. And so, to take care of all of them in one “Action”, God will here be “impleadingly” baiting them all of this “Class” of nations into opposing His Religious and National, thus “Two Witnesses” (Rev 11), movement here, -and that in full, formal, pageantried and readily cocked battle gear.

Ezekiel 38:5 Persia, Cush/Ethiopia and Put with them, all of them with shield and helmet;

Persia, Cush/Ethiopia and Put - Again here, in trying to find the prophetic meaning of such passages, it is not the literal location which is of importance. What rather can be principly drawn out here is that the Gog Coalition would indeed sweep up many other countries which have any self-interest in this assault, thus here, not only with those Northern, Japheth descendant nations. And so, as seen from the mapping provided in here, with Persia (=Elam) being in the (near-)East; with Cush/Ethiopia being in the South; and with Put being in the (South)West, these added nations show that many others within the Region surrounding God’s Zion, (then in geographical Israel), would readily join this coalition. Indeed Ezek 27:10; 35:5 show that other nations are also accustomed to joining up together for concerted campaigns. However as many other nations were also in that Region, the issue of having a self-interest to do this assault is evidently determinatively key.

Present Application/Fulfillment

            In Revelation, God extrapolates on this prophetic principle in Rev 16:14; 17:12-13 by showing that God will, also be Himself acting to, incite the natural inclinations of these nations to have this opposing Eschatological Babylonian coalition (Rev 17:17-18 = Joel 3:2, 9-12), all to ‘build a bigger bonfire’ when they are adjudged (Joel 3) and then thus condemned (Rev 17:17; =1 Thess 2:11-12) and burningly routed by Him (Rev 17:16; Rev 18:8 = Joel 3:13-14ff = Rev 14:17-20). And as also seen in Rev 19:11ff (=Rev 17:14) the nexus of this “war” will be a “judicial judgement”, even, as indeed merely achieved by the Gog Coalition, in the face of their full blown military threats and paramilitary assaults (=Isa 54:15-17)

            In Rev 17, the 10 horns actually symbolize a “completeness/totality” of world nations, especially those not then sharing in the world hegemonic authority and power that Babylon and its close allies has. Well when God will act to judge this now globalized Babylonian Coalition, the lately joining countries will jump ship, even turning against Babylon (Rev 17:16; 18:9-10ff). So really, it is only those who had been in close/long-standing union with Babylon, i.e. having their societies and economies almost completely intertwined, certainly interdependent, who will suffer the greatest losses here.

            In today’s world, one can see that the “proximate Region” to God’s Israel here would be those First World, most Christian, countries, led by the United States of America. And along with them, due especially to socially economic ties, it can be seen that other proximate and “self-interested” powers would be westernized countries such as Israel & Japan, along with, but more remotely so, China and Russia. Then countries in relative developmental stages, such as those in South America, SouthEast Asia and Africa would have, as indeed now is, been endeavoring to ascend to this First World Socio-Economic status, but will surely be jumping ship, reverting back to their more Socialistic preferences, in the light of this total collapse of this Capitalistic bastion of Babylon.

Ezekiel 38:6 Gomer with all its troops; Beth-togarmah from the remote parts of the north with all its troops-- many peoples with you.

from remote parts of the north - This extension also in the northern region shows that this coalition is indeed “globally” to be as widespread as pertinent. I.e. Gomer = present day Armenia, and Beth-togarmah = Turkey.

            But what is tellingly ironic here is that the Northwestern parts, which are today’s European (Union) Region, is not included here, and that is because, back then, in the 7th and 6th centuries B.C., when Babylon, then Medo-Persia were ruling things, thus long before the peoples in Greece and Rome grew strong and aspired, & rose to, world hegemony, it was only the leading, regional/geographically proximate world powers who variously felt threatened by this establishment and rise of God’s Zion. And so they are the ones who had this incentive to try to put it down as soon as possible.

Present Application/Fulfillment

            By the time of today’s world, when world hegemonic powers have gradually shifted (North)West, to first Europe, (i.e. Greece, then Italy, then France, then Britain, then, across the Atlantic to [North] America), it thus is those, prominent and/or effective leading world powers who certainly would be threatened by God raising up a people and nation which will, by the innate power of Christ’s True Gospel message ‘turn the world, i.e. its present Satanic way of doing things, upside-down’, and thus as in Acts 17:6 surely this will engender opposition, even to persecutive and/or militaristic measures.

            So it is not surprising that it is the West today which is leading the way in opposition God’s Two Witnesses movement, endeavoring to obstruct and pillage them in any feasible, and inherently unwarranted, unlawful & illegal, way. (=Dan 11:7-8)

Ezekiel 38:7 "Be prepared, and prepare yourself, you and all your companies that are assembled about you, and be a guard for them.

            Interesting to see how the Heavenly Intelligence is taunting these already self-deluded rebels. (=Joel 3:2, 9-12) It’s like a health-conscientious parent telling a kid to make sure to eat the whole gallon of ice cream. The surprised, but delightedly heeding, priorly health-recalcitrant kid of course has no idea that this will make him extremely sick, as intended, all to teach him, a tangible, once and for all, object-lesson. (Joel 3:13-17 = Rev 14:17-20 = Isa 63:1-6). No manner of preparation, securitizing or strength will be a match for what God will do to this Gog/Babylon Coalition. (=Mic 7:4; Zech 14:2-3; Rev 18:8)

Present Application/Fulfillment

            As stated above at Ezek 38:4, in today’s hyper-sensitive post 9/11 world, the easiest way to prominently coalesce such a opposition from these leading Western powers, especially as the economy and their society is also intertwined in this, is to, like “screaming fire in a theater”, use, even legal Free Speech, to hint at the looming effectuation of another, and even greater 9/11 Event. Then do provide the prophetic/Biblical support (also e.g. here&here) for this, and vexatiously like from First Century Jews (cf. COL 293.3-294.2) trying to protect their increasedly unrighteousness/business-perverted/desolated Temple (John 2:16; Matt 21:13; Matt 23:38-24:2) and you’ll have these reprobates self-manufacturing their lying “warrant” (Matt 27:59-61 vs. John 2:19) for blindly any, even murderously-intentioned, opposition.

            -All nothing but ‘incontrovertible “hooks”’ (Ezek 38:4)...

Ezekiel 38:8 "After many days you will be summoned; in the latter years you will come into the land that is restored from the sword, whose inhabitants have been gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel which had been a continual waste; but its people were brought out from the nations, and they are living securely, all of them.

...you will be summoned... - What the Gog Coalition had been festering to do for “many years”, they then, when God has put hooks in their jaws to accomplish their “summoning”, -all made as formally necessary and binding as is responding to a court’s proceeding summons, will indeed have not other alternative but to do, indeed then not thinking that God’s Zion cause is in any position, i.e., Spiritually or Physically, to defeat them, but as stated above at Ezek 38:4, that also is a key part in God’s “drawing out” plans here.

            In fact, the Gog Coalition may be seeing this now populace regathering as being strategically advantageous to them because, since God’s Israel then is still not actually physically secured, they can use this seeming vulnerably as pawn to get Israel to capitulate, indeed merely at their advance and surrounding (for they surely know better in regards to the power of Israel’s God, than to straightly rush headlong into a fighting war with them. So perhaps this merely surrounding approach, along with a defacto siege, will be enough to cause this population to give in to them, and their rule.

Present Application/Fulfillment

            With the explicitly-stated, key fundamental aspect of the NJK Project, and its populating/growth/expansion, being its planned Aborting-Abortion ministry, evidently now, the Gog Coalition is banking on this vital implication to think that the NJK Project will surely cave in to its countering much lower terms for a (peaceful/“civil”) resolution, -thinking that the NJK not doing so will surely impeach them as being responsible for not seizing their provided opportunity to save “some” infant lives...but here are the Logical and Spiritual facts of the matter: (a) those with actually the means are those who are held responsible for not using it to help those in need; and (b) aborted infants will actually all be saved, even receiving a martyr’s reward (=EW 18.2), but the Babylonians who preferred to, in any degree, worshipfully|idolatrously kow to their socio-economic Capitalistic golden bull/cow god, and let these infants die, will not be saved! (=Matt 25:41-46|DA 825.4)!!

Ezekiel 38:9 "You will go up, you will come like a storm; you will be like a cloud covering the land, you and all your troops, and many peoples with you."

like a cloud covering the land - the literalistic, even metaphoric, meaning here is clearly understandable, but in extending this to an eschatological context, where things are then symbolically extended, the comparison to a “cloud” itself seems quite significant to me, mainly because, unlike an army coming about like a seeming storm being a quite sequitur imagery, the imagery of “a cloud covering the land” is rather not. To me, particularly in a symbolic/Spiritual and eschatological application, with “clouds” being symbolic of the means to tangibly carry out certain elements for the Second Coming, (cf. also the 3 sections in this post on the Rev 10:1 symbol), this would represent these approaching enemies are trying to make it seem like they themselves have this ‘means of effectuating the Second Coming aspirations of God’s Zion’, even coming close down to, if not touchingly over, the land (versus Zech 14:4). Which contraringly implies that they are actually on God’s side, and are the ones within God’s will, and God Himself has not, nor will enter into judgement/war with them (Zech 14:2-3).

Present Application/Fulfillment

            Succinctly/Summarily said, this is all according to the masterful final deception of Satan with/through the Mark of the Beast Camp, which involves him counterfeit the actual Second Coming of Christ, which also involves doing even good works, but by counterfeit means, all to make it seem that God is fully with the MOB Camp, and that they, and through their false idols ways of doing things, are the ones who are ushering in God’s Temporal “Jubilee” Millennium. (See LDE 136.1; 162.1-171.2)

Ezekiel 38:10 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "It will come about on that day, that thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil plan,

See related comments as for Ezek 38:8, but do note that these schemings are indeed “evil”, thus inspired by, and according to, the Devil and his plans.

Present Application/Fulfillment

            The present-day assaulting, Babylonian, Gog-led, Religious & Socio-Economic Coalition today is, out of their preference to ignore (properly interpreted) (eschatological) Bible Prophecy, are indeed, like Judas smugly ignoring Christ’s words, deluded unaware that they are just acting out their roles in fulfilling the wicked’s side for the accomplishment of God’s revealing prophetic plan (Dan 12:4. 10; 2 Thess 2:11-12).

Ezekiel 38:11 and you will say, 'I will go up against the land of unwalled villages. I will go against those who are at rest, that live securely, all of them living without walls and having no bars or gates,

See related comments as for Ezek 38:8. This all occurs in the context of God’s Spiritual Revival & Regathering as done in Ezek 37, thus really when God’s Israel then is more of an Ecclesiastical community than yet a, especially not fortified, (formal|concrete) National one. So the Gog Coalition really comes against them here because of their Religious belief and not out of any actual/tangible nationalistic threat. You’d think that if the intent of God’s Israel had been to, of themselves, cause physical harm to these other nations, they would have first sought to fully secure and fortify themselves, but that clearly is not the case, and their enemies are fully aware of this. The fact is that any fighting and damage that is done to these enemies of Zion will be, necessarily, effectuated by God and His Angelic hosts themselves, i.e. as “angels in the form of men of war” (e.g., LDE 260.1).

Present Application/Fulfillment

            In today’s context, though paramilitary groups, like the greatly western-influxed ISIS, {-who, by the way, actually are the ones who are the true/faithful Muslims, i.e .who actually follow their Islamic religion, (Sharia) laws, traditions and texts, versus the West-fearful and Western-bribed/corrupted, =“moderate”, majority other (nominal) Muslims} have rather novelly manifested aspirations to become more technologically advanced in their Western-warring endeavors, to pull of the prophetically prophesied (cf. Rev 9:1-12) 9/11 II, i.e., as per the effectuations foreseen here, would require quite sophisticated, and already long engaged in, capabilities and measures, e.g. advanced (corporate) computers/systems hacking skills, (which is actually not impossible, to even outsourcingly do, e.g. to the (North Korean?) group who pulled the late 2014 Sony Pictures hack (see this CBS 60 Minutes (04/12/15) follow-up report); [see a report on the FBI Cyber Division’s CART Unit here/here; -dramatized in the CSI: Cyber TV Series]; {or ISIS can significantly improve its manifest, presently entry-level skills -“all U.S. Military Computers” claims aside} (i.e. similar to what is reported here: hacking and mal/ghost-waring key components produced by aircraft avionics and/or manufacturing/assembling companies themselves with pre-programmed and/or remotely accessible/controllable coding and/or devices (=Ezek 39:17ff below = Rev 19:17ff))...and since they have expressed interest in doing ‘9/11-type retaliations’ if the movie aired...and it did, then this would also be fittingly in their own interest.)[3] But, in the case that such groups are not capable, able, to ascend to that operational level, then at best, they can serve as a/the (rational) “cover” for God’s Destroying Angels themselves acting in the ‘ form of men of (paramilitary) warfare.’

Ezekiel 38:12 to capture spoil and to seize plunder, to turn your hand against the waste places which are now inhabited, and against the people who are gathered from the nations, who have acquired cattle and goods, who live at the center of the world.'

...center of the world - Clearly there is nothing warranted or justified in what the Gog Coalition is intended to do to God’s righteous, and lawfully (re-)established and prospering Zion Cause. Manifestly the underlying main impetus for the Gog Coalition’s actions is that this Zion Cause, ‘living (then by geo-locational means) at the center of the world’ (=Ezek 5:5) is about to upstage this Babylon from its own world-influencing (really “drunkenly-drugging”) blasphemous position. (Rev 17:2; 18:3, 7, 23)

Present Application/Fulfillment

            Why is, especially the United States, and the West so eager to spread its “politico&socio-democratic+capitalistic” way of life to the rest of the world: short answer, as fully demonstrated by now, it self-servingly is just to have better access to potential consumers, markets and resources in these other countries. So what can’t but happen when the Zion of God is rising to instead aim to spread God’s Gospel Full Truth (e.g. Luke 12:15; 16:13) and Righteousness/Right-Doing Way of Life to these long Babylonianly-deceived nations: Well Satan will have a cakewalk in succeeding to make these loyal Babylonian servants of his become absolutely self-terrified at the mere thought of this, all really because they are absolutely convinced that the demise of their Evil Empire would be synonymous with the failure of the Kingdom and Reign of God. You’re not ‘the shining city on a hill’ (Matt 5:14)..you are the, now fully grown, judgement-pending city-state whore who sits on seven hills (Rev 17:4, 9, 18; 18:21).

            So: ‘Be afraid....Be very afraid’..what else can you knowingly do (John 3:19-21|LDE 210.1)

                       

Ezekiel 38:13 "Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish with all its villages will say to you, 'Have you come to capture spoil? Have you assembled your company to seize plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to capture great spoil?'"'

            Telling how the world’s business entities and merchant are approving of this Economically-minded “intervention”. That makes it all justified, and by any given means (=Dan 11:7-8)...And yet God has prophesied (also as per the Rev 11:5 principle) that also these schemes and its tables will be fully overturned. (Dan 11:24)

Present Application/Fulfillment

            Needless to point out that the world’s business entities, (quasi-stateless) “multi-nationals”, have nothing against whatever means the Gog Coalition uses to ensure their prosperity and longevity. Yet God’s actions will still ruin also them. (Rev 18:11ff). The whole World-reaching Babylon Temple will indeed be brought down on the heads of all of its drunken worshipers.

Ezekiel 38:14 "Therefore prophesy, son of man, and say to Gog, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "On that day when My people Israel are living securely, will you not know it?

will you not know it? - Of course they will, since it is God’s means to cause their decided assembly, because they foolishly think to show to this Zion that they are not really secure.

Present Application/Fulfillment

            Do criminals who think that they can get away with their crime prefer to instead capitulate and turn themselves in: (a) only if they now believe that they have acted criminally and (b) only if they actually have a conscience. So will the Gog Coalition today admit wrongdoing and defeat and thus capitulate and cease its endeavor to try to overrun the rising Zion of God & its grand future plans...evidently not since they possess neither (a) nor (b), as these are both giftings of God (e.g., Gen 6:3; 2 Cor 7:9-10; 2 Tim 2:24-26; Rom 2:4; Isa 6:10 =Rev 16:10-11), and that Gog Coalition has long been entirely given over to the control of their god, Satan. (7BC 974.6-7)...hence (Isa 30:15) their looming, well-deserved, “woeful” judgement (Isa 30:8-14).

            So, as it has transpired, just by merely informationally sharing the grand plans that God intends to do with the spoils from the judgement of this Babylon (=Dan 11:24) is indeed sure to sustainingly and furtheringly cement this, moreover, “preempting” invasion endeavor by the Gog Coalition.

Ezekiel 38:15 "You will come from your place out of the remote parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great assembly and a mighty army;

horses - Symbolically applied, “horses” are, in a New Covenant/Eschatological, context, representative of Church Militants, i.e., Churches which can be, as designed for, used by believers to accomplish Christ’s Gospel Mandate and Mission throughout the whole world, through ground-campaigning. By comparison, the Church Triumphant, merely has to exist to provide that same testimony, and that without having to engage in militant strivings, and that merely through actually fully/properly using its already-possessed, God-given, blessings, riches and resources. (contra. the Laodicean perversion (Rev 3:17)) It just reigns as per its unchallenged authority, abundant resources and unstoppable power. (=Isa 60; PK 725.1ff).

            So here the Gog Coalition will try to “escape” their prophesied fate, by endeavoring to usurp this triumph of God’s Zion by presenting this corresponding type of great and mighty army of horsemen and horses. (=Isa 30:16a) But indeed God will not allow this to succeed (Isa 30:16b), having long, even supernaturally, provided for a fitting and matching force against that, as detailed within this post, amassed and gathered Religio-Pagan Army. (Rev 9:13-19; Rev 16:12-16; 19:14; LDE 121.4).

Present Application/Fulfillment

            Even the most devoted efforts of the present Gog Coalition to bolster their assembly with their confluence of worldly/pagan, political/persecutive, religious/Babylonian, even (democratic) “faith-based” works elements will not prove to be capable of passing God’s litmus “Sabbatical” testing (Rev 19:15-16|Heb 4:11-13 =Matt 7:21-23|LDE 219.2-3)

Ezekiel 38:16 and you will come up against My people Israel like a cloud to cover the land. It shall come about in the last days that I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me when I am sanctified through you before their eyes, O Gog."

like a cloud.... - See at Eze 38:9 above for the Spiritual, eschatological symbolism.

so that the nations may know - Indeed God will lure the vengeful-Esau-like Religio-Apostate, Spurious Jerusalem, Coalition (=Isa 29:1-8) against His Jacob|Zion, thus producing his, actually boot-camping, “Time of Trouble”, and yet God is only purposefully allowing (cf. Isa 29:9-13), even orchestrating/directing this (Isa 29:14-16|Jer 18:1-6ff), to starkly demonstrate His (actual) Righteousness (Isa 29:17-21) and Almighty Power (Isa 29:22-23)...

Present Application/Fulfillment

...starting with the futilely scoffed at, prophesied, 9/11 II Event (11MR 361.1-2a)!! (Isa 29:24).

before their eyes, O Gog - =Rev 18:9ff How fitting for God to have, indeed strategically commandeered media entities for the multi-faceted fulfillment of this prophetic plan. These not only will indeed be those “eyes” through which will be revealed this triumph throughout the world, but media companies are probably an almost unfailable business-institutions. So they are indeed more proper to be prominently made use of here.

            Ironically enough, the very main “medium”/entities by which Babylon broadcast its delusive influence throughout the world, will be the one which God will have used to ‘make Himself known’ throughout the world.

Ezekiel 38:17 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Are you the one of whom I spoke in former days through My servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days for many years that I would bring you against them?

            As typical with God’s prophecies, the unrighteous can’t help but, at least initially, unwittingly, but then vexatiously and defiantly, fulfill them.

Present Application/Fulfillment

            Indeed as seen throughout this Blog’s posts, the long-interpreted and released (i.e., starting in June 2000) messages of this endeavor by Babylon have not prevented that deluded rabble from carrying out their roles to a “T”. Nor also has their unlawful activities which included gaining access to non-posted prophecies and messages...(=Dan 12:10|Isa 29:9-12) But this rabble is way too Babylonianly drunk to ever begin to realize, let alone admit, this transpired development. Frankly their blindness is freakishly scary. It like dealing with a bunch of literal zombies.

Ezekiel 38:18 "It will come about on that day, when Gog comes against the land of Israel," declares the Lord GOD, "that My fury will mount up in My anger.

...and not a moment too soon, so as not to short the total assembly of the Gog Coalition in this trap.

Present Application/Fulfillment

            That “fury/wrath” is all for the Lamb (Rev 6:16-17; 14:9-11; 16:17; DA 825.4) as people will indeed then have gamblingly preferred to have ‘urban mountains’ and ‘planes as fiery rocks’ fall on them...(cf. Ezek 38:20)

Ezekiel 38:19 "In My zeal and in My blazing wrath I declare that on that day there will surely be a great earthquake in the land of Israel.

=Rev 11:13 (Second Woe); Rev 16:18-20 (soon Third Woe)...

            Indeed as seen here, and at other instances in this prophecy, the various elements/implements, schemes and measures (e.g. earthquake, hailstones, fire, predatory birds, blinded assembling) which God has stated He will used to defeat this Gog Coalition have been interspersed throughout the wrapping up phases of the prophecies of Revelation when then successfully dealing with that Gog Coalition will have necessitated that it be more protracted.

Present Application/Fulfillment

....Which can be symbolically accomplish as in ‘the shaking of the (present ruling) powers of the Earth’ (EW 41.1-2 discussed here), and/or literalistically, as in the greatest ever earthquake targeting Gog (the U.S.) and, as discussed in this post at Isa 24:5,  literally leveling its coast and washing the rubble away in a causedly-ensuing “Greatest Tsunami”.

Ezekiel 38:20 "The fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all the creeping things that creep on the earth, and all the men who are on the face of the earth will shake at My presence; the mountains also will be thrown down, the steep pathways will collapse and every wall will fall to the ground.

            ‘Everything, (including within the territory of God’s (professing) Israel), that can (i.e. should) be shaken will indeed be duly shaken...so that only what should remain (i.e., the Zion|Kingdom of God) will remain’ (Heb 13:26-29)

Present Application/Fulfillment

            The spurious, Freedom of sin, and sin-empowering, Capitalist-thievery Empire led by the United States and the rest of the (Protestant) West, -along with all of its (inherited) false/Babylonian religious teachings, will surely not remaining standing after this Overturning Action by God!!

Ezekiel 38:21 "I will call for a sword against him on all My mountains," declares the Lord GOD. "Every man's sword will be against his brother.

            The Sabbatically-anchored Truths of the Word of God (Heb 4:11-13) will indeed bring about final and distinguishing, unpopular strifeful divisions (Matt 10:34-36; Rev 6:3-4 = Rev 19:15) shaking men from their complacent “peace”.

Present Application/Fulfillment

            That spurious and Unbiblical, sin-compromising “peace” which the “False Prophet” (Rev 16:13), the (Protestant) U.S. has been endeavoring to, especially, when deemed forcedly “necessary”, militaristically (Rev 13:13ff), champion throughout the world (Rev 13:14) will also surely fall. (=Ezek 13; Rev 19:20-21)

Ezekiel 38:22 "With pestilence and with blood I will enter into judgment with him; and I will rain on him and on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, a torrential rain, with hailstones, fire and brimstone.

pestilence - this Hebrew term is almost synonymous with, and really directly results from a pronouncement/decreeing by God vs. a nature born plague.   

torrential rain...brimstone - again what God then could effectuate in literally one day upon Gog then, strategically requires a more protracted approach for the Gog Coalition of the future. However, through God’s power, Babylon will get a great all-sampling, previewing taste ‘in “one hour” (Rev 18:10) & “one day”’ (Rev 18:8)

Present Application/Fulfillment

            As seen in the Seven Last Plagues in Revelation, God comparatively then works more indirectly through seemingly natural means, as, interpreting and applying the symbols, through various man-made things which exist on the earth...all to make it seem like man-caused calamities so as to keyly prevent these evil people to awaken to the fact that God Himself is judging them, pointedly as this judgement requires a protracted effectuation.

Ezekiel 38:23 "I will magnify Myself, sanctify Myself, and make Myself known in the sight of many nations; and they will know that I am the LORD."'

-Long-desired, but Apostate-Israel-frustrated, Mission (Num 14:21; Hab 2:14) Finally Accomplished (Rev 18:1)...indeed through the naturally-consequential sacking of that Babylonian usurper (Rev 18:2ff)!!!...

Present Application/Fulfillment

they will know... - ...But, as discussed in this post at Rev 20:7-8ff, how long will that granted, strikingly evidence knowledge actually, as least effectively, last in a still combative age during that Jubilee Millennium (Rev 19:15). As seen from past history where even with God directly acting within His Israel did not immune them from, even soon after (e.g. Exod 32), devolving back into idolatry and vile paganism, especially as God will now have merely used covert, seemingly merely man-caused/made, means. Evidently ‘up to 1000 years’ (Rev 20:7) will be time enough to demonstrate to the Unfallen Universe that there really is only one, cataclysmic|literalistic, way to rid the inhabitants of, and also this, planet of its persisting blithe of sin and unrighteousness. (2 Pet 3:10-13)

Ezekiel 39

Interestingly enough, the Ezek 39 prophecy is essentially an almost verbatim repeating of

the Ezek 38 prophecy except for certain added details. This however is quite common with God’s method of giving prophecies in a “repetition with elaboration” way. This is seen in the prophecies of Daniel (e.g. Dan 2, 7, 8) and also in Revelation (e.g. Rev 2-3, 6, 8-9) where the same periods are covered, but with added, thematically-grouped, details.

            So when/as these obvious repetitions are made below throughout Ezek 39, as most of these have already been addressed above in the Ezek 38 expounding, they will straightly here not be rehashed. Only except if some new insight can be drawn in the present context.

            And as a general overview of this Ezek 38 & 39 repetition phenomena, as these prophecies deal with the overthrowing of the eschatological Gog Coalition, then it can be seen that Ezek 38 parallels the “judgement of Babylon” (Rev 17:1) prophecy of Rev 17 which mainly identifies it (Rev 17:1-13) then briefly mentions its demise (Rev 17:14-18); while Ezek 39 parallels Rev 18+Rev 19 as they recursively goes into specific detailing about this demise.

Ezekiel 39:1 "And you, son of man, prophesy against Gog and say, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I am against you, O Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal;

Ezekiel 39:2 and I will turn you around, drive you on, take you up from the remotest parts of the north and bring you against the mountains of Israel.

drive you on - =Ezek 38:4 “hooks in your jaw” statement, all to reemphasize that God will be incitively acting to get the Gog Coalition to do this open confrontation. This is all necessary because when wicked people know that they have no chance to succeed against God and His Truth, then they desperately adopt this “head in the sand”, cowardly attitude. So here God, who wants to put an end to any such festering and potential (future) threats against His Zion, all so that, as during the Exodus (Exod 13:17 -and note how Israel marched out of Egypt readied for any (other) military confrontation along the way Exod 13:18), His people would not become dismayed by the arising of such threats in the future, will be doing His part to preemptively end this.

mountains of Israel - In a literal context, thus sense, a mountain is a mountain, but for a symbolic context, a mountain represents, the concrete manifestation of ‘one’s chief way of thinking’. Succinctly said, today this symbolism is effectuated through “urban mountains” i.e., city skyscrapers which are typically are for the headquarters/offices of major economic corporations. In fact, effecting/imposing economic blockade/sanctions on a country, akin to an olden day’s city siege, can be just as effective, indeed a substitute for, instead engaging in a military confrontation. (E.g. today U.S./NATO vs. Russia over the Ukraine Situation)

            So in the literal context, the Gog Coalition is merely amassing itself on Israel’s mountains, i.e. versus its lowland/plains, but this is really for having some strategic advantage over their enemy, thus this attempt to do this occupation there before Israel itself could. In the symbolic context, this preceding, strategic occupation by the Gog Coalition is made to economically incapacitate the rising and growth of God’s Zion, and that indeed right at its planning, organizational spaces.

Present Application/Fulfillment

            As per the prophecy in Da 11:7-8, the Gog Coalition has long been engaged in trying to economically hamper the rise of God’s Zion by hacking into its headquarters and engaging in various preemptive tactics and actions, including intellectual property and planning theft, as well as vandalistic disruptions. Yet God aims to make this, now “remotedly launched” actions even more concrete, and “draw out/on” the Gog Coalition into this losing open confrontation, from which, as seen below in Ezek 39:9-10, God’s Victorious Zion will then have ample resources to even more readily establish themselves.

Ezekiel 39:3 "I will strike your bow from your left hand and dash down your arrows from your right hand.

bows and arrows - This special long-distance, detached, weaponry which the Gog Coalition is evidently banking on for their campaign against God’s Zion will, keyly, be nullified by God. Then will they be left with nothing else than hand to hand combat weaponry, principally with swords.

Present Application/Fulfillment

            Being thus forced to personally engage God’s Zion, and that with swords, which fundamentally symbolize the “Word of God” (Heb 4:12-13), also when used to make truthful decision in the Civil Arena (e.g. the practice of swearing on the Bible in both Judicial and Government proceedings/swearing ins), but as stated in LDE 121.2-4, even this wielding of swords, thus either from Biblical claims for indicting and/or Judicial and/or Civil Power actions (cf. Mark 13:9), will be handily defeated by God’s faithful (Mark 13:11; cf. Rev 19:15), particularly as non of those objecting claims and actions by members of the Gog Coalition are based on anything Biblically Truthful and/or Legally Valid. And thus also the warranted counter suits from God’s Zion for these inherently/vexatiously/maddenedly unlawful/strong-arming actions by the Gog Coalition.

Ezekiel 39:4 "You will fall on the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the peoples who are with you; I will give you as food to every kind of predatory bird and beast of the field.

fall on mountains - The members of the Gog Coalition will fall wherever they choose to oppositionally stand, thus here in the “mountains” (=planning/operating headquarters) of God’s Zion.

food to birds and beasts - Once the Gog Coalition has been terraced, God will then call on predatory birds to feast on them in order to, completely wipe them out, leaving behind nothing but their bones, which are then to be buried (Ezek 39:11-15f)

            This all is restated in God’s capping and culminating actions in Rev 19:17-21, where, as explained in this post, this is all done by an economically obstructing angel of God calling forth for this to transpire.

            Interestingly enough, unlike in Rev 19:17-21, only “birds” -which symbolically represents a small, put still, land-based-equivalently, effective/potent, especially when in large grouping, (airborne) entity (e.g just like, nowadays, the U.S. Air Force is primarily used to destroy an enemies tank army/divisions e.g. during the 1991 Gulf War (see videos here). This is manifestly because, as seen in Rev 17:12-14, the ‘totality’ (=“ten”) of the world’s leaders and their kingdoms (=“beasts” (Dan 7:17, 23; 8:20, 21)) will by then be either devotedly Religiously (Rev 13:8) and/or contrivedly Economically (Rev 13:16-17) integral members or tacit supporters of this Gog Coalition. So then God’s Cause will only be able to rely on a makeshift, predatorily utilized, service of only birds.

Present Application/Fulfillment

            The present-day Rev 19:17-21 application has been amply discussed in this post, so it won’t be rehashed here, if only to summarily state that, in today’s world of advanced and size-diminished technology, it is indeed possible to do as much damage and destruction as any established/land-based power/army, pertinently e.g., here, remotely hacking and controlling Super Jumbo Jet Planes through its highly computerized and automated avionics to make-shiftly used as fuel-laden missiles....just, but even more damagingly so, as in was done on September 11, 2001.

Ezekiel 39:5 "You will fall on the open field; for it is I who have spoken," declares the Lord GOD.

            Well God Himself is here telling Gog that it is He who has told/is telling it, and its Coalition, that they will “die wherever they stand”...and whatever God says/prophecies is, if/as conditions are met (Jer 18:7-8), (defaultly) surely going to happen. (cf. Deut 18:19-22) See Ezek 39:8.

            Notice how the Gog Armies are said to fall without any mention of God Zion themselves actually engaging them. And that is indeed because, as begun to be detailed in the following verses, God Himself will be doing this fighting for them.

Present Application/Fulfillment

            In EGW SOP revelation about the priorly possible uninterrupted historically flowing fulfillment of this prophetic scenario, it is just as the amassed Gog Coalition is about to Lawlessly assault God’s Faithful People that God Himself intervenes to terrace this murderous rabble. Priorly it had been angels as guardians (LDE 265.6|EW 269.2-272.1ff) and “in the form of men of war” (LDE 121.2-4) who had done this defending (e.g., also in 9/11 II =EW 272.3a), but here, now, God Himself more directly intervenes to finish off the still unrepentant, now knowingly blaspheming, Gog Coalition, i.e., starting with the sudden imposed even greater Darkness of the Fifth Plague. (Rev 16:10-11|GC 635.1-635.3-636.1ff).

            This is a darkness which symbolizes a total given over to the influence of the Devil, as amply effectuated by unrestrained human passions, all capable, in today’s world of powerful nuclear weaponry, of potentially plunging this world into the literal Darkness of a Nuclear Winter, but for the sake of His Testifying (Matt 24:14) Jubilee Millennial (Rev 20) Zion (Rev 14:1-5 = Psa 15 = Zech 12:8 = Dan 12:3|Matt 13:43|5T 81.2) Kingdom (e.g. Dan 2:34-35, 44; 7:14, 18, 11:45 -see more here & here) God won’t let things go to that humanly-totalizing extreme. (Cf. Rev 11:15-18; cf. GC 636.2)

Ezekiel 39:6 "And I will send fire upon Magog and those who inhabit the coastlands in safety; and they will know that I am the LORD.

send fire upon Magog... - Quite telling that God will not only be endeavoring to overthrow the national entities for Magog who had led, and engaged in that assault against His Zion, but for necessary preemptive purposes (cf. Deut 20:16-18), and also due to potential retaliatory attempts by this remaining posterity of this usurpation attempting Japheth who have been unwilling to submit to God’s plan (Gen 9:27a).

            And so here, also the posterity of Japheth “safely” dwelling in the coastlands, along with Magog (see Gen 10:2-5), -all of which, inherently are, like Gog, prone to headingly restart such a rebellion (as it will actually, at some later time, reoccur -Rev 20:8-10), will, at the starting of this indeterminate Millennial period, also be put down.

Present Application/Fulfillment

            Succinctly said, God will be acting to put down any potential political or economical hegemonic power from all Western/Capitalistic nations, -thus for a New World Order, so that the pervasively, insinuous and fundamentally unbiblical principles of this Satanic selfishness course & system (DA 20.3-21.1) will not again idolatrously (Luke 16:13) leading to all sorts of evil and unrighteousness (1 Tim 6:10; cf. Pro 12:12).

Ezekiel 39:7 "My holy name I will make known in the midst of My people Israel; and I will not let My holy name be profaned anymore. And the nations will know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.

            God is indeed doing all of this for His name’s sake (cf. Ezek 36:22-23ff), all to vindicate His Character of Love, which is an endeavor which, due to the repeated unfaithfulness and failings of His professed peoples, has never reached its pursued glorious ending and revelation.

Present Application/Fulfillment

            In a world which easily likes to fault God for all the sufferings and death in the world, God then will finally have a Triumphant Cause, which will demonstrate to the world that God’s ways of doing things are indeed the best, -starting with getting rid of that Pseudo-Christianity Religious and Economic Babylon which ultimately has, even knowingly/indifferently, done nothing better than blaspheme the name and character of God with its spurious Satanic, variously contra-Gospel, Institutions.

Ezekiel 39:8 "Behold, it is coming and it shall be done," declares the Lord GOD. "That is the day of which I have spoken.

                                                           

            The equivalent of the “Day of the Lord”, when God then will act to overturn everything, to, in this its pre-final effectuation era, give this world a final, and best chance to learn and do what is truth.

Present Application/Fulfillment

            But that generous provision will carry the cost of adjudgingly eliminating all those (i.e., in Babylon, who had been the leaders, and leading upholders of that Globalizing Satanic System  (cf. Rev 18:4, 9-10 =Luke 12:47, 48b)

Ezekiel 39:9 "Then those who inhabit the cities of Israel will go out and make fires with the weapons and burn them, both shields and bucklers, bows and arrows, war clubs and spears, and for seven years they will make fires of them.

Once the Gog Coalition has been struck down, then God’s Zion will peacefully go forth and claim, and make use of, the booty from this victory of Gog & Co. And they will use that to their, literally empowering, benefits, over 7 years, through transformatively consuming those things for here, necessary and constructive things like heating cooking energy. (=Dan 11:24)

Present Application/Fulfillment

            Once the Gog Coalition has been physically and psychologically struck down, through initiatingly the exposing anguish of the looming destructive prophesied 9/11 II Event accomplished against it, then the prior criminally and tortiously unlawful weapons being weilded against God’s Zion will be left behind, strewn all over that open battlefield, and free for the picking up and transformative, beneficial use by those in God’s Israel. This will either directly or indirectly be done, i.e. directly by the successful filing and prosecuting of the lawsuit for those prior illegal activities against them, and/or through the convincing of the remaining ones in other spared nations (cf. Rev 11:13) who will thus convicted and convinced generously supply the needs for this upbuilding of God’s Zion (=Isa 60) which has always been (Spiritually) planned according to indeed a 7-year plan. (=Rev 8:1|EW 16.2a|Rev 15:2)

Ezekiel 39:10 "They will not take wood from the field or gather firewood from the forests, for they will make fires with the weapons; and they will take the spoil of those who despoiled them and seize the plunder of those who plundered them," declares the Lord GOD.

            Due to the stunning victory that God will orchestrate and effectuate for His Zion Cause, they wil not need to develop and used up their original and own natural (including energy) resources and industries in order to supply their basic need, straightly making use of what is available from the fallen Gog Coalition instead.

Present Application/Fulfillment

            From the legally-awarded, retributing (for the prior violations against them =Dan 11:7-8, 33) provisions which they will obtain through their victory of the Gog Coalition, God’s Zion Cause today won’t need to engage in building its Oceans-located Floating Holy Cities (=Dan 11:45) from scratch, natural, even human/industrial, (even high-tech) resources and energy-wise. (=Dan 11:13, 29-30, 43)

Ezekiel 39:11 "On that day I will give Gog a burial ground there in Israel, the valley of those who pass by east of the sea, and it will block off those who would pass by. So they will bury Gog there with all his horde, and they will call it the valley of Hamon-gog.

give Gog a burial ground in Israel - How cleverly ironic Gog of Japheth posterity had been refusing to humbly dwell in the tents of Shem’s posterity, so now God will subduing bury them in that land (cf. Isa 55:10-11), -thus “killing” two words with one stone.

blocked off East valley - And speaking of ‘killing two birds with one stone’, blocking off that eastern valley thru-passage will mean that no one will be able to get around not passing close by God’s restored Jerusalem at that “center of the hegemonic world” (Ezek 5:5).

Present Application/Fulfillment

            That is position that the eschatological Gog (Rev 17) also sought to usurping arrive at (e.g. Rev 13:13ff), and forcefully maintain (Rev 13:16ff). (Cf. Isa 48:1-5ff). Hence God’s Jerusalem will incontrovertibly be seen by all, the true “city on a hill” (Matt 5:14-16; Zech 8:3), -themselves actually having God’s Truth & Righteousness within it (Zech 8:8; 1 Cor 13:6; 1 John 3:18).

Ezekiel 39:12 "For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them in order to cleanse the land.

            It will indeed be a self-behooving imperative to ‘painstakingly completely bury’, even any remnants of the Gog Coalition. Thus no prisoners will be taken. (=Deut 20:16-18)

Present Application/Fulfillment

            Thus will the Geo-political map of the present world and its affaired be forever altered, with Gog (ideologically) wiped off the map, without a trace.

Ezekiel 39:13 "Even all the people of the land will bury them; and it will be to their renown on the day that I glorify Myself," declares the Lord GOD.

            The people who literally have caused the formidable Gog to disappear from view through the doings of the Heavenly Intelligence (=Rev 18:21ff) will indeed, from just that feat, have instant glorious world renown.

Ezekiel 39:14 "They will set apart men who will constantly pass through the land, burying those who were passing through, even those left on the surface of the ground, in order to cleanse it. At the end of seven months they will make a search.

            Quite indicative how God is insisting on this point that Gog be completely disappeared, evidently all in order to hold off (cf. Rev 19:15) the unfortunately (yet purposefully, permittedly) expected Gog & Magog resurrection. (Rev 20:3, 7-9f). (=A protracted eschatological “searching out”.) See more in this post.

Ezekiel 39:15 "As those who pass through the land pass through and anyone sees a man's bone, then he will set up a marker by it until the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamon-gog.

            Again, the emphasis to be diligent to completely bury Gog. Then, when it is resurrected, -with Satan again having a chance to sway people to his side/view (Rev 20:3, 7-8), as a the beginning (Gen 3:1-5), with people opting to choose evil again, it will vindictingly be seen that it was again, not out of any validity/necessity.

Ezekiel 39:16 "And even the name of the city will be Hamonah. So they will cleanse the land."'

Ezekiel 39:17 "As for you, son of man, thus says the Lord GOD, 'Speak to every kind of bird and to every beast of the field, "Assemble and come, gather from every side to My sacrifice which I am going to sacrifice for you, as a great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel, that you may eat flesh and drink blood.

As for you... - So, as seen above at Ezek 38:11+note, this is indeed a ‘speaking/calling forth’ task that God has appointed for His “son of man” to himself do. (=Rev 19:17ff)

great sacrifice, eat flesh, drink blood - This statement is expoundedly and emphatically elaborated on in Ezek 39:18-20 to show that God is both serious, and unapologetic for how He will repletely (mal-)treat the murderously trespassing Gog Coalition.

Ezekiel 39:18 "You will eat the flesh of mighty men and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, as though they were rams, lambs, goats and bulls, all of them fatlings of Bashan.

Ezekiel 39:19 "So you will eat fat until you are glutted, and drink blood until you are drunk, from My sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.

Ezekiel 39:20 "You will be glutted at My table with horses and charioteers, with mighty men and all the men of war," declares the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel 39:21 "And I will set My glory among the nations; and all the nations will see My judgment which I have executed and My hand which I have laid on them.

            The rest/remaining peoples in the world will awedly understand that this has all been the doings of the Creator God of Israel (=Isa 52:1-2, 13-15), and including the transpired object-lesson illustrating His Gospel Truth. (2 Tim 3:12; Isa 53; John 15:18-25).

Ezekiel 39:22 "And the house of Israel will know that I am the LORD their God from that day onward.

the house of Israel = Conversely enough, also the rest of the, now still to be (Rev 7:1-3) purposefully-sealed (Rev 7:4-8ff), Christian world. (See Ezek 37:9-10, 11 in here).

Ezekiel 39:23 "The nations will know that the house of Israel went into exile for their iniquity because they acted treacherously against Me, and I hid My face from them; so I gave them into the hand of their adversaries, and all of them fell by the sword.

acted treacherously - As with Laodicean phase of the Christian Church at the end, the house of Israel took the granted blessings of God and returned “unfaithfulness” Had been sen to Babylon and were without God’s advancing light

fell by the sword = Not only were they guilty before the word of God (cf. Lev 26:14-43), but God also had to call the on civil (pagan) powers of Assyrian, and then Babylon to further discipline his harlotrous (Jer 3:1-5ff) people.

Present Application/Fulfillment

            Most fulfilling enough, indeed in this Laodicean age, not only has an unfaithful Babylon has long been manifested, but also an unfaithful Judah. And now God is acting to punish both and possibly save some from them (Rev 3:18-20; 18:2-4), according to His remedying conditions.

Ezekiel 39:24 "According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions I dealt with them, and I hid My face from them."'"

hid my face - This involves God (suddenly) leaving such wayward people to grope about in the non-resisted darkness that they insist on living in (EW 270.1) which in turn leads them to become catastrophically Spiritually blind (Isa 29:9-14ff).

            The most deceptive part of this modus operandi by God is that these so abandoned people had have been given some light and knowledge by God, but not enough, and furthering more, so as to permit them to savingly understand what God is going to go on to do. (cf. Dan 12:3-4, 10) So, like the First Century Jews, indeed every so adjudged generation during God’s Ethnic (=OT) and Spiritual (=NT) Israel History,  they feel perfectly safe in their, comapratively “elementary” (=Isa 28:5-13) corpus of prior knowledge and experience. Yet God has been since acting to ‘keep giving much more’ (=Rev 11:3), even anchoringly/furtheringly key SOP light, just not to them, indeed most calculatedly to the contrary (e.g., Ezek 14:1-9 (e.g. here); Isa 6:8-13 (e.g. here))!!!

Present Application/Fulfillment

            Of course, all of this has been effectuated on God’s unfaithful Israel& Judah today (Amos 9:8), through tailoredly recursive “Shaking” effectuations (Amos 9:9) and then ‘Whirlwind Sifting’ (Amos 9:10) all towards accomplishing His Glorious, Sabbatical ultimate end (Amos 9:11-15), which the even more apostate people from Israel (=at best, nominal, indifferently backslidden, “Christians|Laodiceans” (=SpM 1.5|19MR 176.1)) who had long been assimilated by various Northern pagan Kingdoms, including Magog & Babylon, will here be seeking to physically oppose in their (‘Spiritualistically deceived’ EW 261.1-266-269-273ff|1T 341.1; ST, April 12, 1883 par. 1-9ff) Gog Coalition Campaign. (=SpM 2.1a; 1888 494.3).

            And to be more exposingly clear, the “Overmastering Delusion” of Satan appearing as an Angel of Light is in order to delude spurious believers by fastening them in their preferred way of spurious righteousness/“right doing”. This endeavor is spoken of in the Sixth Plague of Revelation in Rev 16:13-14 in order to coalesce and gather the (Eschatological)Mark of the Beast (MOB) Camp for their H/Ar-Mageddon showdown (Rev 16:16) against those who have, and are living up to, Christ’s True Righteousness (Eph 2:8-9; Rev 16:15; 3:3-5) and its practical/true godliness mandate. (E.g. Eph 2:10 James 2:14-26).*

            That Angel of Light-MOB Camp, -which also will be as unruly/unlawful as a (Satan-led) “mob”, is said in Rev 16:13 to be made up of: the Dragon, the Beast and the False Prophet. In the (prior, now superceded) Historical wave of fulfillment of prophecy, Satan was going to visibly play that “Dragon” part as (literalistically) revealed to EGW in GC 624.2-625.3. But in the now applicable Eschatological wave of fulfillments, the Great Controversy issues have become more entrenched and subtle, and so the Spiritual aspects of such prophecies are what, in God’s Great Wisdom, expose Satan’s, necessarily covert, plans.

            -And so: the “False Prophet” part of this coalesced MOB Camp, which Historically is (generally) Protestants, but is now, -as also indicated to EGW, more subtle by: ‘he [Satan] coming in unperceived, and working in disguise through the children of disobedience who profess godliness”. (1T 341.1) This is just as Paul also indicated as: ‘disguised servants of righteousness’ (2 Cor 11:14-15).

            -The “Beast” is the (secular) kingdom/country which hosts and supports this religious movement. It is deceivingly secular because that is how it Constitutionally seems to be, but in its actions and laws, is not. As seen in Rev 13:11ff, the United States of America will be fulfilling this role, having made an (overlaying) image to the (First) Beast of Rev 13:1-10 (=the Holy Roman Empire).

            -The “Dragon” is really whatever entity/power Satan works most directly with in order to most impactfully oppose the work of God. To try to preempt God’s Plan of Redemption, Satan worked through the Pagan Roman Empire to try to murder the Baby Jesus, and later by having Rome crucify Christ (=Rev 12:3-5). When that didn’t work, Satan subsequently came back with a similar campaign of now trying to put the believers in Christ to death, again working through Pagan Rome. (Rev 12:13; 2:8-11) But as that grandly backfired, Satan then worked more subtly, and first sought to paganize the Christian Church itself through compromising (Rev 8:10-11; 2:12-17), then had it take the seat of authority and power which Pagan Rome had held (=Rev 13:2), and then led the power-drunk and greed-controlled leaders of that apostate Roman Catholic Church/Empire, i.e. Priests and Popes, to lead in the persecution of those who Biblically opposed their heresies. (Rev 12:14-16).

            And, in pursuance of its persecutive plans (Rev 12:17), Satan will have, in the United States (Rev 13:11), managed to secure again an arm of Civil power in the modern world to effectuate these persecutions. But in order to be able to realize this, the entire, even secular, U.S., as well as other Western Powers, will have to come on board, and thus non-believers, the “pagans” of former eras, = neo-pagans, will have to agree to be part of this Religious takeover of America and other Western Countries, which up to then had been Fundamentally Secular through the Separation of Church and State.

            So how will this be achieved...it will all (Eschatologically) be through this overarching theme of False/Spurious Righteousness. The Papacy, as seen with Pope Francis in particular, -(who, pertinently enough, actually has rightly decried/denounced the present socio-economic state of things under Capitalism as: “the dung of the Devil”; cf. here), and the Roman Catholic Church in general, have as, in compliance with its Liberation Theology,  its main attracting card all of the socialistic works it endeavors to do. But all the while, it has a religious ideology and theology which is purely Satanic as it usurps to authority and seat of Christ; -hence its Anti-Christ status. The United States, and other Western Powers, have done a similar, but surfacely seemingly opposite thing, by endeavoring to do good through Capitalistic means, -which is a socio-economic ideology/system which is likewise, but more covertly, purely Satanic. (=EW 266-269) Other Western Countries are more socialistic than the U.S. in this area, but this is really merely in regards to domestic needs. When it comes to aiding the needy in other poor countries, while emergency aid may be more than less freely given, the still needed Development of these countries is still expected to be achieved through Capitalistic means.

            Non-believers in between are non-religiously and/or non-capitalistically attracted to either side here from their humanism ideology. So effectively this Tri-Part union is thus concretely coalesced by these subtle deceptions of Satan. And this coalition of fundamentally: “Papists, Protestants and Worldlings” as the SOP identified them (GC 588.3a; Mar 190.2**) indeed fulfills the “Beast, False Prophet and Dragon” gathering of Rev 16:13, all speaking the same deluded ‘paganistic language’ (see commentary at Rev 16:14 in this post)...and all will be claiming to be working in union to ‘usher in of the long-expected millennium’ (GC 588.3b)...the one which is attempting to rival and upstage God’s, (indicated and approaching =Rev 16:12)), actual True Righteousness Jubilee Millennium.

            And it is through this Eschatological advancement of Spiritualism, -where people are claiming that: ‘you can do God’s will by ignoring God’s will’, (i.e. through: selfishness (contra Phil 2:3), indifference (contra. Deut 15:7-11; Luke 3:11) greed (contra. (Luke 12:15)), covetousness (contra. (Exod 20:17)), etc; -all of which are base/sinful/evil traits which as necessarily and/or conditionedly systematized in Capitalism (=Rev 13:16)), and do so not only without consequences, but actually with God’s very own commendation and reward, is patently fulfilled in the deliberately habitual, formal, invocation by: ‘respected (U.S. & Western) “statesmen”, flanked by corporate and technological officials “engineering” this illicit, and “globalized”, prosperity scheme’ (=EW 263.1ff), of: “God Bless America/{Country}”!

* See a (now Eschatologically superceded) Historicist interpretation/application of this prophetic section from Peter Gregory here[15:55-43:00ff]; (cf. his video and PowerPoint presentation here).

** See a (now Eschatologically superceded) Historicist interpretation/application of this prophetic section from Stephen Bohr here; -as well as here, then here, where on Rev 16:15, he can “naturally” (1 Cor 2:6-16), =‘anecdotally vs. exegetically’, thus only Historicistly premisely/contextualizingly “see/perceive” that this warning applies to the, (actually already long adjudged (=EW 54-56)), Seventh Series Laodicean Church (Rev 3:14-21), -(whose, -especially corporate, probation has indeed long closed, -given all of the Great Light they long already have had (LDE 59.3-60.2)), instead of, as almost verbatimly clear: the, just preceding, Fifth Series Reformatory (Christian) Church (Rev 3:1-6; =Ezek 11:14-25; =in the Northern Kingdom’s 10-Tribes of God's Israel (cf. Rev 7:5b-8)) as discussed in here at Rev 16:15.

Ezekiel 39:25 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, "Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for My holy name.

restore... =Amos 9:11-15; Ezek 36:22-38; 37:15-28.

jealous for... - As discussed here, this term can, in this context, be more accurately understood as God being zealous, and acting zealously for His name, meaning that He will be acting to bring swift vindication for His Zion Cause at the best time. (Cf. e.g. Luke 18:6-8; EW 285.1-286.1; Zech 12:1-9, 10-11ff =Rev 16:14-16; 17:14; 19:11ff)

Ezekiel 39:26 "They will forget their disgrace and all their treachery which they perpetrated against Me, when they live securely on their own land with no one to make them afraid.

           

            How most merciful for God to do this extra memory wiping out to those who priorly had acted badly towards Him. But this also is to show that any future rebellion will not be justified. In fact, as ‘those who forget their history are bound to repeat it’, this state of affairs here will inherently also make it possible that this ‘perpetrated treachery’ is again pursued. (=Rev 20:7-9)

Ezekiel 39:27 "When I bring them back from the peoples and gather them from the lands of their enemies, then I shall be sanctified through them in the sight of the many nations.

            As in the wider history of the prior rebellion of Israel, it involved former Israelites having become separated from God’s Israel and assimilated with surrounding pagan nations, and then, as in the Gog Coalition, as seen above at Ezek 39:24, these nominal believers then participate, even, fittingly as with “Gog”, lead in an assault against God’s Zion. (=Rev 20:8 where manifestly Gog is leading a throng all fully unitedly known as Magog.)

Ezekiel 39:28 "Then they will know that I am the LORD their God because I made them go into exile among the nations, and then gathered them again to their own land; and I will leave none of them there any longer.

            Telling how God has as much a work of making Himself known and respected amongst His own professed believers, than with peoples in outrightly pagan nations....but so is the total deception of Religious and Socio-Economically perverting Babylon.

Ezekiel 39:29 "I will not hide My face from them any longer, for I will have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel," declares the Lord GOD.

not hide face = thus the converse of what was done in Ezek 39:24 will be done here.

poured out my Spirit = And that will be through the ‘outpouring of His real Latter Rain’ (=Rev 18:1), which indeed will mainly be through the effectuation of Zech 12:9-11ff.

Notes

[1] Which they actually do not even follow: e.g., they claim “Rosh” (Ezek 38:3; 39:1) is a cryptic name for Russia, and not even a “still existing” (supposed) nation named Rosh...when in further debunking reality, as later shown, “Rosh” exegetically actually means here “chief (priest)”.

[2] And by the related way: Cyrus, being a Persian (Dan 6:28 -who acceded to/joined the regnal line of the Medes through marriages), who were descendants of Elam, and thus also Semites from Shem (Gen 10:22 -see in the chart in here), then God did not have to go far to find, -actually: raise up, someone of the Semitic line through which He could “legally” redeem, and thus accomplish His restoration, (from all that permitted sacking “evil”) of the line of Shem, all to fulfill His Israel promises especially when, unlike Israel, Cyrus became most compliant upon probably His very first encounter with the Living God. (=Isa 44:24-45:7; Ezra 1:12ff)

[3] FYI, all just the resumptive carry through with God’s given commission towards His end game via His ‘Abysmally Destroying & Weeding Out Angel’ (Rev 7:1-3ff; 9:11; 14:18-20; 19:17-21; 20:1-3ff; Matt 13:40-43)